Rio - Barely Human
by Der Verructe Spatenwahnsinnige
Summary: When Blu, a macaw of cerulean blue, discovers that he is of the last male of his kind, he meets up with Jewel, who cherishes her freedom more than him. But through the trials of love, and life, how will they get to live happily with each other, and to bring forth the next generation? Find out more...
1. Introducing Jewel - 1

**Notes:** **This story is an interesting one. I don't think anyone has ever done it before. Which is why it's interesting. Although, knowing my luck, **  
**it Has been done before, and I'm just talking a load of waffle.**

**But anyway, since this is the story of Rio, as you may imagine, your favourite characters are all here! But in this case, they need to be introduced to you, **  
**as their backstories may be a little different to what you were used to. Or, you may not know it at all...**

**I'll start with Jewel.**

Jewel is a female blue spix's macaw, and in her early life, up to the age of 8, she lived happily in a tribal community with her father and mother. They were excellent  
parental figures, and always took good care of her. And her father, in specific, took care of the tribe too. He was the leader. So, Jewel is like a princess, if you will.

They lived happily together there, she had even made a boyfriend, Roberto, who was the top student in every field, and they got along well, even having very cute  
nicknames for each other, "Beto" was what Jewel called Roberto, and Roberto called her "Ju-Ju". Cute.

For this to be a decent story, predictably, something has to happen to her for her to have ended up in Rio. And unfortunately (But predictably), something did happen.  
One fateful day, there was a huge forest fire, expected to have been started by illegal loggers in the amazon rainforest, who showed no pity for the birds who lived there.

Eduardo, her father and leader of the tribe, after being warned of the blaze, took immediate action to evacuate everyone to a safe place. He took Jewel and ran for safety  
but it was soon discovered that they were surrounded. The fire was already burning in all directions.

After a risky decision, he decided to head north away from the blaze, as he thought that seemed like the weakest part of the conflagration.

He could be forgiven if he were wrong. The flames were taller than most of the trees in the jungle, the sky was black with smoke, and the air thick, and barely breathable.

Soon after heading off in the northward direction, they found it to be a living nightmare. Trees were collapsing left, right and center, bringing down hopes of survival  
for both the tribe, and the forest with them.

Waging war against mother nature herself to escape with his family, he sound found he was fighting a losing battle. His fears that his family wouldn't make it out alive  
were slowly starting to dawn on him. He didn't care if he couldn't make it out, so long as his daughter, and wife did.

It was when they were three quarters of the way out, that the war was nearly over for them. They had all been running through whatever paths were available, Eduardo's guess  
that Northwards was a good way to go were mostly correct, but still wasn't safe.

With such a large danger, casualties were expected, and suffered. Eduardo saved everyone he could, but in some cases, was forced to leave them to fend for themselves, as he couldn't afford to lose his daughter, or wife. All women and children in distress were rescued successfully, with acceptable losses. There would be a much larger death toll, had the tribe escaped in any other direction. It seemed as though Eduardo's gamble paid off.

They were three quarters of the way out, until, the felling of the tree that would seal the fate of the family, to be seperated, through two different kinds of loss.

Missing, and death.

Faced with a large obstacle which couldn't be flown, nor jumped over, he knew that it was the end of the road for them. He held Jewel and his wife, who was at his side, tight, until they were knocked off their feet by an explosion behind them. The loggers often used dynamite to fell trees. A box could have perhaps been lost in the blaze, either that, or a large amount of air was added to a tight space.

Eduardo was left stunned by the blast, and his wife was nowhere to be seen.

Jewel, was thrown back through the dense jungle foliage, mercifully (And not for plot convinience), to a safer place.

She was terrified, fire was still all around her, she called out to her father, "Dad!" but it was no use. Her voice was shattered from a combination of both terror, and the smoke filled air, which was so thick, it could practically be chewed on.

It was her turn to do the running now.

Fifteen frightful minutes later, she made it to a clearing that was flame free.

She could slow down to a walking pace.

"A walking pace?" You ask? Well, this story is a bit different to others. In the way that, in this story, all birds show human qualities, or are, "Anthropomorphic". A good example of this, is The Cat in the Hat. He is a cat that shows human qualities. And very much like the way he is a human like cat, these are human like birds.  
Are we on the same page now? Good.

If not? Well. You've got the font of all knowledge at your fingertips, so use it to look up the definition of "Anthropomorphic" and stop using it to look at cat photos and have arguments with strangers.

NOW are you on the same page?

If yes, That's great. I'll carry on.

If no, then you're really starting to get my dander up, you grotty little man!

~ ~ ~

After trekking through the jungle for a few days, trying to keep herself safe, Jewel began to lose hope. She had lost both her parents, all her friends, and her beloved. All in a few hours.

The last memory she had of Roberto was saying goodbye to him for the night, and then him flying home. And the last she had of her father, was being in his wings one minute, and getting knocked away the next.

This was a traumatic experience for her, and was one she was not going to forget soon.

She was tired, and hungry, and upset. Tears streaked down her cheeks, and neck as she rolled around the saddening thought in her mind's eye.

After walking for several hours, she became very weary, just fighting the urge to lay down, and sleep. Despite being only over the age of eight, Jewel was no fool, and knew of the things she needed to survive. She needed rest, and her stomach was giving her audible reminders that she was in need of some nourishment, something she decided she would set as her next task.

The jungle was our equivalent of a supermarket. You found what you wanted to eat, and you ate it. Whether it was a juicy fruit.. or bug.

Luckily for Jewel, she wasn't going to be lunching on lugworms, for she found some mangoes which were a reasonable distance above the ground. She put her jungle instincts to good use, expertly climbing the medium tall tree and separating the golden fruit from it. On closer inspection of this tree, she found that at the base, there was a good place to make herself a small den, large enough for her to sleep in.

She thought to herself, _"I had best get my strength up before I do anything too strenuous."_

There was a small pond very nearby to where she planned to rest herself for the night. It was a clear pond, and some small fish were darting around in the crystal clear water. She watched the moon reflect off their scales. The way the fish effortlessly moved through the water was hypnotic, and Jewel soon found herself in a trance, rolling the bad thoughts around her head.

She was obviously upset at losing her parents. And she couldn't help but feel guilty, as if it were her fault.

Jewel lowered her head in shame, and said quietly to herself, "I've let you down, daddy."

Her mind was racing, she was wondering what to do.

She came to the conclusion, that crying over them wouldn't get her anywhere.

A tear rolled down her beak, she caught it with her tongue and tasted it.

Bitter and salty.

Having had enough of dark thoughts, she began to eat the food and had provided herself. The mango and found was ripe, and sweet, and once it was all gone, Jewel deemed herself thoroughly satisfied.

Not wasting another moment she spent moping, Jewel set about constructing her temporary accommodation.

Jewel was a jungle girl to the core, and a fast learner. She soon had lashed together a cosy little den, big enough to sleep in, with enough room to be comfortable for her.

She had made the walls out of the obvious, and readily available materials, sticks, and the roof was made of large leaves, effortlessly taken from the trees they were attached to thanks to Jewel's determination.

Exhausted, she slid into her humble effort, and give her body the thing it required most,

Rest.

End of part 1.

(Remember to let me know what you thought!) 


	2. Introducing Jewel - 2

**I'm gonna enjoy uploading all these parts in quick succession! There will probably be about 4 by the time I'm done. 0_o**

**Fun Fact: I actually wrote this months ago. All parts of introduction were made close to when I had actually first taken an interest in writing.**

Since we last left off in this little introduction series, things got a bit real.

Jewel had lost her family, all in the space of a few hours. Lost in a forest fire.

She had made herself some temporary accomodation, and stayed there, regaining her strength and will to continue. And soon enough, she did. To cut a long story short, she lived in the jungle, ever wandering for years. She met people along the way, but never stayed long. She didn't want to make her parents or friends feel like they were being replaced. It was a paranoid thought, but one that she couldn't seem to shake off.

But one day, at age 10, she reached an amazing place.

Rio de Janeiro.

She was amazed by this place, and took in it's beauty.

The time was around 7:00pm, evening. The sun was setting below the mountains. And for Jewel, it was love at first sight. She wandered down into the city. Since it was evening, people were out in the streets, going about their day, some were eating in takeaway restaurants, some were browsing the aisles of supermarkets, and others were simply walking from point A to point B.

Jewel loved it, the beautiful blue sky, the warm glow of artificial light, the cool breeze on her feathers. It was the happiest she had been for a long time.

She showed specific interest in some of the vehicles on the road, they made loud sounds as they moved along, and there were people inside them. Growing up in the jungle, she had never seen any automobiles before, and so this was like magical sourcery to her. She couldn't quite understand what propelled them, but she was curious to find out. But maybe another day.

After walking around this wonderous place, she soon realised, that this was a modern city, and so she couldn't exactly build a twig hut there. So, what she decided upon was to seek out an authority figure.

She was walking along the street, when she came to a zebra crossing, she was about to walk out into the busy road, when someone called out "Stop!"

Jewel turned around to face who was speaking, it was a woman of around 65 years in age, who resembled a scarlet macaw. She seemed like a normal person. (One of the human-like traits these birds possess is having the same lifespan as humans.)

"You'll catch your death if you go running out into the road like that, young woman!" She said in a kind, but authoritive tone.

Jewel replied "Sorry, I'm not from around here."

The lady replied "Not from around here? But, where have you come from? And what are you doing out on your own?"

"I've been on my own for a few years now. I used to live out in the Amazon, but my tribe and parents were claimed by a fire, and I soon arrived here." She replied.

The poor dear couldn't really believe what she was hearing, but taking one look at Jewel, she saw the living proof.

"Oh! You poor girl!" She exclaimed, before hastily shushing herself. She didn't want to draw any _unwanted_ attention to Jewel.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Asked the kind old lady.

Jewel replied simply, "No."

"Well, I can't have you wandering around out here, it's dangerous. You can come and stay with me." She insisted.

Not really being able to complain at her hospitality, she accepted. "Yes please. That would be nice. But, if it's too inconvinient, I could always find somewhere to build myself some sort of home. Because, I would like to stay here. It's a beautiful place."

"Yes, it is." The lady agreed, before saying "It's no bother to me at all, in fact, it'd be my pleasure. I'll enjoy your company..." She tailed off at the end, before asking her, "What's your name, little one?"

"I'm Jewel." Said Jewel, "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Jewel. My name is Edna. Edna Morrissey." Replied the kind old lady.

"Now, how do you use this thing here?" Asked Jewel "I saw people crossing it, and those things that make loud noises as they move all stop and let them by. But, they didn't do that for me."

"Ah. Well, you wait and see for that light up there to change." Replied .

Jewel looked at the light she was pointing at. "It's red." she observed.

And soon enough, it turned green, and the cars began to stop, to give way to the pedestrians.

"Wow! The light controlles those machines!" Exclaimed Jewel.

"Well, sort of, dear. It's a bit different to that." Admitted .

Jewel was about to question her further as to what exactly the cars were, but soon moved onto other matters.

"Now, hold my hand, and we'll cross over." Said .

The pair held hands, and safely crossed the road. Jewel was amazed by such things she had never seen before.

"Incredible. I've never seen such a thing ever before!" Announced Jewel.

"It's a pretty clever idea dear, yes." Replied .

"Now, where are we going?" Asked Jewel.

"I was just popping off down the shops to get something for my dinner. A good friend of mine works in there." Said .

Jewel's stomach let out a long growl, and a concerned asked, "How long has it been since you have eaten, dear." Jewel was slightly embarassed, but she told , "I must not have eaten since last night." She then added "I don't know what a 'shop' is, but, is there food there?"

"Absolutely" Replied , and she then wasted no time getting over there. When in the shop, she let Jewel pick out any sort of fruit she wanted. And about 80 Brazillian Reals later, 's shopping bag looked like a miniature greengrocers. Jewel had picked out a lot of fruit and veg.

Since the night was still young, and the time was only around eight o' clock, and Jewel sat on a bench overlooking Copacabana beach, and ate a rather strange kind of food... To Jewel that is. She was fascinated by an ice-cream, how it was like a solid liquid. She found it delicious, nonetheless.

Eventually, the pair bonded together, by talking on various subjects, such as how Jewel had survived on her own for 3 years in the jungle, and how had lost her husband. They became close very quickly, for they could relate having both lost loved ones.

"Oh my... I'm sorry for your loss, Edna." Said Jewel, kindly, after had explained to her the cause of her husband's death.

didn't really like being called Edna. It was what her husband always used to call her. So, she asked Jewel "Would you mind if you could call me, Nan? Or Grandma?"

Jewel was taken aback by this. She didn't really want to turn down her request, but at the same time, didn't want to feel like she was betraying her actual relatives.

She said "I'll think on it. I don't know how I feel about that."

"I would rather it, to be quite honest." Rather-ed .

(She didn't insist. She rather-ed. *wink*)

"Well..." Began Jewel. "I feel like I'm replacing my family, if I call you that. I used to call my real grandma, Nan. No offence."

"Ah, well, I understand. It's just that, my husband always used to call me Edna, and, it brings back bad memories, dear. It is just a preference." Replied .

"Well... In that case, When do we head home, Nan?" Asked Jewel.

After kind, old took Jewel to her home in her car, much to Jewel's fascination, they became very close.

Every day, was the same, the pair would wake up, enjoy some breakfast, and then would take Jewel to see some fantastic sights. _(Some of these will be written about in more detail as a sort of Spin-off series, provided that it would be appreciated. Let me know!)_

The pair lived happily together, and got into their own routine, much like Blu did with Linda.

**Speaking of Blu and Linda...**


	3. Introducing Blu

**Now that I have introduced you to Jewel, it's time to meet Blu. Who's real name at this point, is actually Jesse. He was only given the name Blu as a nickname later on. His story is rather similar to that of the movie, and just as sad.**

Blu was a 3 year old chick who lived with his mother and father in a small house in Rio. Blu's parents were not well off, and they fought to keep it. One day, however, when he came home from the preschool, (Kindergarten, to you yanks.) he found that his parents were nowhere to be seen.

He tried to get the attention of the bus that dropped him off there, but he found that it had disappeared over the hills. Afraid, he sat on the doorstep, as he was not able to get into the house.

He must have waited for half an hour, when he grew tired. He laid back on the steps of the family house and basked in the warm, Rio sun.

2 hours later, his parents arrived home. They were extremely flustered, they had lost their house and were told to pack up their things and leave. But, they were in even more panic, as they usually picked up Blu from his preschool.

They unlocked the door, and went inside, they looked in every room, and he wasn't there.

They rang the preschool, who said that he was dropped off at their house. And after not being able to find him, they rang the police. And so, the two parents, wracked with the guilt of losing their only child, were sent off into a pit of depression that would be difficult to recover from, with the loss of their house, and their son.

When Jesse woke up, he was in a tight, confined space, and he immediately panicked. He tried to call out, but it was no use. He had been bound and gagged, and was stuffed into a crate which was nailed shut.

Little did he know, that just a few meters away from him, on the other side of the walls of a plane, money exchanged hands between two shady figures. Trafficking was very illegal. The despicable people who would capture rare birds, would either sell them to laboratories, where they are used as guinea pigs, to zoos, where they are drugged and made to act like zombies, performing tricks for a crowd, or to a museum, where they are plucked, and killed, or shot and stuffed.

Jesse didn't know exactly that one of these things were going to happen to him, but according to his instincts, they weren't wrong. He knew that his life would change dramatically from that moment on.

Not knowing what to do, or how to escape, he wept uncontrollably, while he hopelessly bashed his tiny wings feebly, against the hard, wooden crate to no avail.

He was trapped.

The only thing he could do, was lay down, and rest. Hopefully whatever fate befell him, wouldn't be too bad. He tried to think happy thoughts.

After a few hours, which seemed like days to him, he felt like he had come to a stop, and then, the next thing he knew, he was being buffeted, and thrown around. It was then that he thought "If these were nice people, they wouldn't hurt me like this.

Soon, he felt a shunt, as his crate, along with others, were forced into the back of a van.

Jesse soon guessed this, as it seemed to struggle when starting, and going up hills. There was a lot of noise coming from all around him. It sounded like the whole vehicle was falling apart.

Jesse was cold, and very hungry. His stomach felt as though it was tied up in knots.

After 15 minutes of hunger, and horrible sounding engine noises, Jesse felt a cold rush of Air. Cold, winter air.

He shivered, thinking nothing more of it.

Suddenly, the van swerved from side to side, screeching to a halt, and Jesse's box was thrown from the back!

The latch holding the door of the ancient van had simply given way, and the boxes inside, would all eventually fall out. Serve the smugglers right.

Jesse's box was on its side in a soft substance, it was very cold, and so Blu concluded that it was snow. Now that he wasn't in the van, hope started to show in him, and he tried to break open the box from the inside. It was still no use, for the box was very strong, but there was a chance that someone would hear him, and he knew this, so he kept it up.

Soon enough, he heard footsteps running towards his box.

"Is someone in there?" asked the voice. It was a young girl's voice.

After learning of something being in there, she took the snow shovel she was using to clear the pavement outside her parent's bookstore, to pry open the lid of the box.

She took her first look at Blu.

Before I continue, there is something I should say,

The young girl, Linda, who was around 10 years old at the time, believed that the world was all Peace and Harmony, but she was very wrong. In this universe, Trafficking was a very real thing. Rare birds had to be protected, or they would face certain extinction. The poachers didn't care, though. They would just move onto the next species.

The young girl, couldn't really believe what she was seeing.

The small, sad, pathetic chick was bound and gagged inside the box.

His face was stained with his tears, and he wanted nothing more, than to be rescued from inside the horrid, hard box.

She didn't want to see him suffer any more, and so, she leant over the box, reached inside and picked up Jesse.

She cradled the baby bird in her arms, and stroked his headcrest, and a feeling of comfort began to spread throughout him.

He was safe.

She carefully attempted to take off the gag which was preventing him from speaking, and she had soon managed to remove it.

The first thing that was said between them, was from Linda. She said, softly to him "It's okay. I'll take care of you."

Jesse was still a little shaken, and he asked, "W-who are you?"

"I'm Linda, what's your name?" Asked Linda.

"I'm J-Jesse." Replied Jesse.

"How about I just call you... Blu?" Asked Linda.

"Ooh. I l-like that name." Replied Jesse, who, from here on out, will be referred to as Blu.

Blu took a look around at his unfamiliar surroundings. It was snowing, which was something he knew of, but had never experienced. The cold soon seeped past his feathers, and dropped his body temperature to an uncomfortable level.

"I-I'm c-cold." He announced.

At this, Linda cuddled him closer. "Don't worry, It's warm inside, little one."

And so, an inseperable friendship was born. As Jewel did, Blu and Linda got into their own routine, and had a happy life together, for fifteen whole, wonderful years.

Both birds were happy.

Although... One day, things began to change...

This is where the story begins.


	4. Day 1 - Morning

**"Barely Human" is my new, long awaited (by me) title in which all birds are anthropomorphic, and humans never existed. There are no breeds as such, pretty much unless I get bored and decide to change that, or indeed the whole storyline later. By no means what you see in the parts, is what the actual finished piece will look like, but I can say now, that no matter what I write here, will**  
**not be *too* different in the final product. **

**I toyed with the idea of not having breeds as such, but more genetic colours and sizes. Obviously, there will be some birds that resemble toucans, with large beaks, that are black and white, there will be some birds that are parrot like, which are brightly coloured. There are many different combinations, and shapes, and what have you. There could be a small bird, which is red with green tints. There could be a tall bird, who is black with white neck stripes. Etc. There are even Eagle-esque birds. It really depends on their genetic makeup. Very much like mixing two colours to make a new one, the same thing can be said for these birds. **

**So how are Blu and Jewel endangered then? Well, simple. They aren't. **

**They were more pulled together by a massive company, 'Pallette', to bring forth a new colour! It's hard to explain, but Blu and Jewel, yeah, they're the same. They only differ in gender.**

**So wait... Blu and Jewel are *Exactly* the same colour? No. They are the same colours as they normally are, it's just that males are always darker than females. **

**Blu and Jewel are the exact same. Kinda like two exact fingerprints on two different people. But not quite as rare. **

**So why's Pallette after them? Rare colour tax, pretty much. It's so that they can determine how endangered you are, and then do accordingly. **

**Common? Nah. You're good.**

**Uncommon? Still fine. **

**Rare? Interesting... You can be monitored, to make sure nobody's out to get ya.**

**Very Rare? Entitled to security, and maybe a house. **

**One of a Kind? (Like Blu and Jewel) You can't be seen out in the open. Get a big house, security, car, whatever you want. Pretty much as long as you can pay for it...**

**The more colours, the more money! Oh, and they sell life insurance, too. **  
**If you ARE endangered, then old Pallette won't have that! Oh no. They'll put you in a big house with security, and a whole lot of money! Because profits. **

**That was what happened to Jewel. **

**And so, we begin...**

Morning.

The macaw lay asleep. His dreams swirling around in his unconscious mind.

His name was Jesse. But his nickname was used to address him around 90% of the time. His nickname was... Blu.

A bit boring... A bit drab... Not very original.

He was a kind-hearted bird, but only named after the dark cerulean colour of his feathers.

And right now, he was sound asleep. Dead to the world.

Since it would be boring to just imagine him asleep, and that I would soon run out of things to say, we're going to fast-forward to the moment where he arises from his slumber.

It happened when a repetitive and irritating "Bleep" came from somewhere outside of his world of induced make-believe. Better known as "Dreams".

The groggy bird grumbled in his sleep, and outstretched his arm, attempting to swat at the source of the noise that his fatigued mind thought had dared to disturb him.

As you may expect, it came to no success. He only ended up knocking the clock off of his bed-side table.

Gathering his thoughts into a somewhat orderly fashion, he realised that it was futile to bat the button on the clock, so he reached down to the socket in the gap between his bed, and the table next to it, and with a precise tug, pulled out the plug that was supplying the power to the enraging device.

But to his confusion, he still found his ears were ringing with the same shrill beeping sound.

Wisely, he decided to actually open his eyes and take in the world around him.

Everything came into focus, inside his dark room. The very little amount of mess on his floor, the various kinds of posters that birds of his age would have hanging from his wall, albeit in a very neat and tidy fashion, the large wardrobe which housed his bird oriented garments, the lamp on his bedside table and no clock.

He reached over to the opposite side of his bed, where a window was located, and tugged on the long string that controlled the positioning of the blinds.

With a long, loud, noise which, quite frankly, had no word to adequately describe it, the blinds reached the top of the window, allowing the cold, morning Minnesota sun to pour into the room, lighting it up nicely.

It lit up everything in the picture I have just painted of Blu's room, including the face of a pretty, red macaw in her early twenties.

It was then that the beeping stopped. It was the red macaw, who was known to the world as Linda, who was making such an annoying noise.

Blu's face, upon seeing her, softened. She was the bird he had came to love. The bird who rescued him. Who kept him safe, warm, and loved.

Blu didn't love her like *That*. He loved her as more of a motherly figure.

"Arise, Sleepybeak." Came Linda's warm, inviting voice.

Blu smiled and began the process of actually waking up and getting ready for his day.

As he did, he said "You love waking me up like that, don't you?"

"Yup! It's super effective!" Giggled Linda.

"Well, that, we can both agree on. Give me some time to wake up, sweetheart." Replied Blu with a yawn.

She nodded sweetly, and left his room in respect for his privacy.

Blu groggily swung both taloned feet over the edge of the bed, and arose.

He fumbled around in the wardrobe, selecting a suitable shirt and leg-wear, and putting them on. They only added to his already rather dashing appearance.

Now sufficiently awake, he walked into the bathroom to brush his beak. Linda was in there partaking in the activity that he was about to. With a hum of greeting, he joined her.

They used brushes and cleaning solutions specifically engineered to keep their beaks clean, and infection free, while also not tasting like acid.

Linda finished before Blu did, and so, by the time Blu had gotten downstairs, Linda had made breakfast.

Blu and Linda sat down at the table they had always sat at, and tucked into some toast.

As they ate, Blu read a newspaper. Being the old fashioned sort of bird he was.

Blu muttered some of the titles out loud. Ranging from things in the local area, to world news.

He paused on one specific story, though.

It was a story about a pretty young bird named Jewel, and how she might be the last of her colour. Blu was particularly interested in this story, because Jewel looked achingly beautiful in the pictures, and this was what aroused his...

...Curiosity. Because Jewel looked just like him. Of course, Jewel was a lighter shade, but the resemblance was there...

When it came to markings, she was identical. She was of the same build as him, too. She had the same everything. It was like they were twins.

He choked down his mouthful of toast, and folded over the paper. Linda looked up, hearing the noise and when she did, Blu showed the page containing Jewel's story to Linda, and said "She looks like me, don't you think?"

Linda looked closer at the paper, examining it.

She took a sip from the glass of orange juice she had, and gestured for him to give her the paper.

Blu deciphered the action and handed her the object containing the article.

After waiting for a minute, or maybe two, Linda said "She does... You two have an uncanny resemblance..."

Upon hearing this, Blu whipped out his FlyPad (I'm not sorry.) and tapped the address of a website. A website that was linked in the newspaper.

The website belonged to a company called "Pallette".

He ignored all the ads the site threw at him about security services and various kinds of insurance. Judging by the long list of branches and their locations that the website provided, it seemed that Pallette was a very profitable company.

He eventually found the sub-section of the site he was looking for: Genetics.

The webpage had a form that you could fill out regarding your appearance, and then Pallette would check it and read out the services you are entitled to.

Blu filled out his appearance, and in a text box labelled "Additional Info", he added a refrence number listed in the paper, which was to be used if "You or someone you know, is believed to of the same appearance. (As Jewel, in this case.)"

He sent his message to the Team that handled these forms at Pallette, and continued eating his toast in silence. Thinking about what might happen...

"If I'm the same colour as her... Does that mean I will have to meet her?"  
"What if I do have to meet her? But... What if she doesn't like me?"  
"What if I'm supposed to... ughhh..."

End of this part, and the morning.


	5. Jewel's New Job

**I've decided that... Instead of a strange 3rd person view for the whole story, I might focus on one of the characters specifically for a part.**

**I've spotted a large Error in the 2nd part that introduces Jewel! I know mrs is supposed to have a "." after it, but I think the website automatically thinks it's a web link and erases it. Hence why I say "Mrs,Morrissey". It's not a mistake, it's intentional. And also, if I refer to Jewel's mother, unless I state that I'm referring to her actual, biological mother, I am referring to Mrs,Morrissey.**

**Quite how legally accurate I am, I don't know.**

**Quite short, I know, but I best not waste any more time... And so... Without further ado...**

We find ourselves in a very large, very prestigious mansion, in the hills of Rio de Janeiro.

This mansion is owned by a very pretty bird, in her twenties, who went by the name of Jewel.

Jewel had an... interesting life. First living in a jungle tribe, losing them, then ending up in Rio, and having an elderly woman as her acting mother, and then finding out how rare she was...

And of course once that happened, Mrs,Morrissey was offered secure accomodation for a 14 year old Jewel (And herself). And being the sort of kindly old lady she was, she obviously didn't think twice.

And so, the happy family of two settled into a large house in the hills of Rio, not far from where they lived originally.

About 4 years later, Mrs,Morrissey began to struggle. Paying for the house was not an easy task, as the money she had in pension was starting to run dry.

Jewel, now being a legal adult, decided that she would take up a job to help keep their house, as they had both grown to like it.

This part, is the story of how Jewel found the job that would support her, and her mother.

T'was a sunny day. The light from the big star in the sky cast beautiful golden rays over the vast, sandy bay. Being such a nice day, everyone was out. Not a single soul stayed in, for it would be a crime

to miss coming out on a day such like this. The heat was stifling, but there were plenty of ways to keep cool.

Sensing an opportunity to go out and have a nice day, perhaps also, to buy herself something nice, Jewel had taken a quick drive down to the bay, to a cafe by the sea front.

She ordered herself a refreshing glass of sparkling lemonade, and took a seat that overlooked the sea.

Her attire was appropriate. She wore a white, floral print sundress. She wasn't a huge fan of wearing things that showed off too many feathers, as, unlike most girls, she didn't actually want boys to look

at her. She knew that she would obviously get looks anyway, as she looked achingly beautiful in whatever she wore. But she never showed off about it.

Reclining back a tad, her arms rested comfortably behind her neck, she closed her eyes. The sun didn't irritate her eyes at all, as she was wearing a not-so-cheap pair of wraparound sunglasses.

She took in the marvellous view of the ocean, her glass of drink in hand.

Jewel let out a contempt sigh and said, "This is the life..."

Some children were playing on the beach quite nearby. She enjoyed the sound of their joyful laughter, as they volleyed a ball to and fro, over a net set up on the beach.

"Awe. It's a nice day for it." She whispered under her breath to herself.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, one of the kids in the volleyball match had taken a dive to avoid missing the ball, and hit it at a bad angle. The ball ricocheted off the boy's hand, and headed straight for where

Jewel was reclined. It was a good thing she was watching them, otherwise she would have found that she would have been hit, out of nowhere, by a volleyball.

Spotting that it was heading towards her, she stood up and reached out to catch it.

And catch it, she did.

She smiled to herself, as she was never the greatest at sports, bounced the ball off the ground and back into her hand again, and performed a neat throw over her head, as if shooting a basketball,

accompanied by a short hop, and the ball was headed back in the direction of the volleyballers. They shouted their thanks to her, and she simply replied with "No problem!"

She watched them for a few more seconds from her standing up position, before letting out a quiet yawn, and having a quick stretch before she turned around and headed back to her seat.

As she went to sit back down again, she noticed someone was watching her with a great interest in his eyes.

Jewel saw him staring, and immediately felt uncomfortable. While he was of a lighter build, he was still clearly a lot older than her.

The male in question, held up his hands, so as to say 'Don't be alarmed', stood up and walked over to her.

"Sorry for staring" He said, "I'm Don. I own a photography studio, and shoot for a French magazine called 'La Plume'. Nice to meet you."

Don was a green macaw like bird, in his late thirties to early fourties. He had a French-edged accent, presumably one he picked up from being around the producers of the French magazine.

"I'm Jewel" Replied Jewel, shaking the male's hand. She had heard of 'La Plume' and had actually read a few issues, but was no keen subscriber. "You wouldn't happen to be Don 'Hampton', would you?"

"That's me!" Replied Don Hampton.

"Oh wow!" She exclaimed. "Come, sit." She said, offering him a seat at the table that accompanied hers.

"So, what can I do for you, Don?" She asked.

There was a light breeze, which rocked the feathers in her plumage attractively.

"Well, as I take lots of photos all the time, you can imagine that I know a natural when I see one, and you, Jewel, do come across to me that way." Answered Don.

"You think *I'M* a natural?" Quiried Jewel, bewildered.

"Absolutely!" He replied. "In fact, I want to take you in on this day. That is if you would mind heading on over to my studio later?"

Every now and again during their conversation, Jewel would take a sip of her drink, until it eventually ran out.

"Well... Sir, I... Don't really know quite what to say!" She said.

"How about 'Yes, I'll come and see you later'?" He queried.

"I think you knew the answer as soon as I figured out who you are. What time?" Asked Jewel.

"I was thinking of doing an evening shoot," Replied Don, adding, "if that would suit you?"

"Yes. That'd be real swell, thank you." Came Jewel's answer.

And so, Don gave his card, contact details and the location of the studio, and Jewel went home to tell Mrs,Morrissey the good news. And suffice to say, she was proud of her.

At 5pm that evening, when the sun didn't have such a ferocious hold on the land, they went out onto the beach and took plenty of photos. Some were excellent, some not so.

Don was amazed at how everything he requested, was simply taken in her stride. She was a beautiful specimin, and when the good photos were printed out, Don was extatic.

He emailed them straight over to the producers of 'Le Plume' and waited tensely.

It was the next day, when Jewel received a text message, from Don. It was written in text speak, but roughly said "Congratulations, Jewel! You've made it to the front page on the latest magazing of,

'La Plume'! Come on by soon, some people from 'La Plume' have come down to my studio asking about you!"

And thus, began her modelling career.

She became an icon in 'La Plume', and was on a healthy income.

Jewel was a star, with many followers on her Tweeter and Facebeak (still not sorry) accounts.

She was happy. It was a way to support her accommodation, and ageing mother.


	6. The Email

**Ta Da! Another part for Barely Human! I've finally gotten round' to writing it! *Pats self on back* **

**I'll not get bogged down in writing the author's notes, instead, I'll write the actual story. Seems like a good place to start.**

_Remember that in this universe, a bird's 'colour' can literally be replaced with 'species'. A dying out colour is the earth equivalent of an endangered species. _

Day 4 - Afternoon - Moose Lake, Minnesota.

After a few days of waiting to hear back from Palette regarding how rare of a colour Blu was, and whether he was rather common-or-garden or if he were an ultra rare, endangered sort of colour. After the second day or so, they had all but given up. Nothing changed during the third day.

Blu was sitting at his desk in his room. Today it was a little snowy and cold, and he didn't fancy going out. Today was more of a lazy day where he would do nothing in particular other than watch movies, talk to some of his online friends, and fill his stomach with hot chocolate.

As he was absent mindedly conversing with a friend, he got a notification from the email on his PC. He thought nothing of it and continued chatting. That was, until he saw the actual notification balloon. "You have new mail from Pallette." To which he immediately shouted "Linda!", who came running, at his cry.

As he waited for her to arrive, he opened his email account, and loaded up the document.

No sooner had he opened it, came Linda, practically falling over herself, in the attempt to get into his room.

"What's wrong, Blu?" she said in a concerned manner, as she approached him.

"Pallette has gotten back to us!" he answered, excitedly.

"Ah! Okay, then! What does it say?" she asked, keenly, coming over to look.

And, the email went thusly:

"Greetings.

We here, at the Pallette Colour Coding team have identified the bird who sent off their specifics to be of an extremely rare colour. The reason why we have taken our time to get back to you, was because we wanted to be quite sure of the validity.

We have to tell you now, to keep this clandestine, and not to inform anyone as to how rare your colour is, as we open the theory that you could perhaps be the only other colour in existence.

The only known bird of this colour is a female named Jewel, who, if you choose to, will get to know one another."

There were more things to be said in the email, such as what would happen next, and a bunch of legal gumpf which I have truncated from the above. Above, is pretty much what was said in some way or another.

Blu and Linda were unsure of what to do next. There was contact information and the like, but there was a slight problem...

Jewel was in Rio de Janerio.

A ten hour flight away.

"Linda? What do we do?" asked Blu.

"I... I don't know... I think it would be best if you went to see here, especially if you're the last of your kind..." answered Linda.

"But... What if I'm not good enough for her?" he inquired, his eyes alight.

"I don't think so, Blu. There isn't a girl on this earth who doesn't deserve you, because you're such a sweetie." she replied, kindly, then got level with Blu on his revolving computer chair and gave him a hug.

Blu reciprocated the gesture, and put his arm up around her upper back, smiled and said, "You always succeed at making me feel a little better about myself, and that is why I love you."

"Aww... I love you too, Blu." she cooed, holding him tighter.

The love that Blu had for Linda was exactly what he had for his mother. Even though she technically wasn't his, her maternal instincts had kicked in, and she looked after and loved Blu as if he were her own.

After releasing the hug, Linda said "We are actually all out of hot chocolate. Would you mind going to the store to get some?"

"Ahh, I had better go and do that, yeah. Can't go without hot chocolate." declared Blu, standing up and walking to the door, before asking, "Where are the keys?"

"Same place as always, Blu." she said.

"Alrighty, I'll be back soon! Love you!" he called, leaving the room.

"I love you too!" she called, before adding, more quietly with a chuckle "You silly big bird."

Soon, Blu had left the house, gotten into Linda's 4x4 and driven off to the local store to get his precious hot beverage mix.

As soon as she saw that he had left, she walked over to his computer, sat down, and began typing.

Blu was back in around ten minutes, as it wasn't difficult to drive to a store a few miles away, and pick up a single item. "I'm back!" he called from the bottom of the stairs. "Should I make us a mug each?"

"That'd be nice, thank you, my dear Blu." she called in reply.

"Okie-Dokie then!" came Blu's voice assuring her reply was heard. He then set about gathering all the things needed to make hot chocolate. The sugar, the milk, and the mix he had in the bag. After he had mixed two mugs of hot chocolate, he went to put the mix back into the cupboard, but he saw a barely used pack of mix right at the front!

"Linda? There's a barely used bag of mix in the cupboard! I didn't need to go to get any more!" he shouted to her, in frustration.

It was then that he heard the creaking of the spiral staircase as she walked down it.

"I know, Blu. I used it to divert you away for a few minutes." she told him.

"Huh? Why?" he asked, puzzled, placing the newly-opened bag of hot chocolate mix onto the counter.

"So I could reply to the email." she replied, simply.

"But... Why did I need to be gone?" was his next question.

"Because I told them that we're going to get on a plane to Rio de Janeiro and meet Jewel. That's why. And I knew you'd have mixed feelings, but ultimately turn it down." she answered.

As expected, Blu sort of broke out into a short fit of stammering. He did indeed have mixed feelings about meeting a girl as beautiful as Jewel.

Linda stepped closer to him, and laid a feather over his beak, so as to shush him.

"I know you're a little scared... I am, too... I don't know what sort of a bird she is." said Linda, calmly, and Blu nodded.

"But I wouldn't do this, if it were not the right thing to do." she added, looking into his hazel eyes with a smile.

"I guess so... But... I'm just nervous. What if she doesn't like me? She is way above my league." replied Blu, looking down at the ground.

Linda placed a primary under his beak, and lifted his head up so that he was looking at her again, and told him "How could she possibly dislike you, if you just be yourself?"

"Perhaps you're right, but... I don't know her. It could go any way..." he remarked.

"Well, look at it this way. How bad could you possibly be if you want to be yourself around her, and not try and be anything else that you are not? She should trust you that way."

Blu took a deep breath, and simply said "Alright. I'll try my best."

"That's my big brave boy. And we'll be back home, before you even know it." she finished, giving him a big hug.

After some to-ing and fro-ing with the people at Pallette, they had kindly arranged for a flight that would take them into Rio, and a place for Linda to stay when they got there, as Blu would be staying with Jewel, unless she expressly said she didn't want to, which, to their knowledge had not been said.

It was arranged that next month, the two would be put on a flight to the country, and thus, before long, they found themselves flying through the air at six hundred miles per hour towards their destination. The flight was long, and so, by the time Blu and Linda had landed, they were rather tired, and decided to go to a cafe to have something to eat that would shatter worlds with pricing and taste ghastly, like airplane food.

_But what happened next, is to be told in the next part. Which I shall be writing and releasing soon._  
_Thanks for reading. :)_


	7. Nico and Pedro

**I feel bad for not posting a Barely Human chapter in a while, so I've decided to get back at it, again! I've already posted one, but I want to give people a good amount of things to read on the story that they followed, so, here comes this part. I'll probably write a couple more(?) before moving back to 'Tough Love' or to 'A Carefree World'.**

**Nico and Pedro are nice characters... But man... Pedro doesn't speak normally. That complicates things.**

**Without further ado...**

45 days after receiving the Email - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

T'was the afternoon in the famous state of Brazil. The bright sun shone down on the land, baking it in the immense heat. People in summer-wear drifted around the pavements and the roads like seaweed. Linda and Blu were at a cafe on the main street, sat at a table and preparing to order something. The fact that they hadn't eaten in a while, and couldn't, due to the ridiculous prices of food on the plane, which made the pair grateful that they had made it to a restaurant when they did.

Blu and Linda both had menus, and were browsing the drinks section. Linda was looking for a nice hot cup of coffee, and Blu was, predictably, looking for hot chocolate.

Since Coffee was a widely ordered item in the shop, it was unsurprisingly among the first things you see on the menu. Whereas hot chocolate had virtually never been ordered. Strange, considering coffee tastes like dirty dish water, and hot chocolate is quite nice. Blu knew that he would rather drink something hot and sweet, rather than hot and disgusting, like everyone else was.

Once their minds were made up, Linda got up to order. A coffee for herself, and a hot chocolate for Blu.

The table that they were sat at was located closer to the back of the shop, a little bit out of the way from the till. Neither the till, nor the front door was visible.

While Linda was away, Blu was sat at the table, browsing memes on his phone, as that was his favourite pastime while out and about. The cafe's WiFi was decent.

Soon, two birds, one red and rather obese and the other yellow and skinny as a stick figure came into the part of the restaurant where Blu was seated. They took a table directly next to his and sat down, then prepared to order.

"A'ight Nico. What'chu havin'?" said the rather obese red bird. "I don't know, Pedro, maybe there's someone around here who could recommend something." replied Nico, the yellow bird. The red bird, called Pedro, nodded to him, looked at Blu and said "Ay yo, Bird. You know the most delicious thing this here place sells?"

Blu stammered and replied with "Uh-n-no, sir. I'm actually not from around here."

"Whaat? Hey, Nico. He's a tourist." said Pedro. Nico donned a confused look and said "Funny. You don't look like one..."

"I don't? How so?" asked Blu, curious.

"Bro, I ain't goin' over everything that makes you look local, okay? Trust me." informed Pedro.

"I-uh... Okay." replied Blu, awkwardly.

"So. Are you here for carnaval?" asked Nico, kindly.

"Carnaval?" repeated Blu, incredulously.

"Yeah! Carnaval! It's the biggest party in like... da whole world!" answered Pedro, enthusiastically.

"Woah... I had never known that Rio was a place to go for a good time. I always thought it was just hot and full of kidnappers..." admitted Blu.

Nico and Pedro seemed shocked at this statement from Blu.

"Whaaaaaat?" the both screeched in unison.

"Nooooonononono." insisted Pedro. "Bird, this place is like, da most poppin place on dis' earth!"

Nico agreed with him, saying "Rio de Janerio is where I hatched, and is where I'll spend the rest of my days. Things are as you would expect, but we all tend to get along like one big happy family! Especially at Carnaval!"

"Huh. That sounds rather nice... What is carnaval, then?" asked Blu, politely.

"Well... Why don't you see for yourself? They'll be blocking off the roads soon enough. Or, we could take you? You got anything going on?" offered Nico.

"Ah, actually, I couldn't. I'm here to meet... I'm here to meet a.. A girl..." said Blu, shyly.

"Ahhh, A girl..." purred Nico. "Yess." came Pedro's background response.

"Little word of advice, Blu, Brazillian ladies respond to confidence." he said, smoothly.

And Pedro cut in with, "Yeah! It's all about swagger! You gotta puff out that chest, swing that tail, eyes narrow, like some kinda crazy love hawk!"

"Wait... Really?" he asked, amazed at such a foreign way of courting. Meanwhile, a ping came from Nico's FlyPhone.

"Yeah, man! Trust me, it'll work." assured Pedro. Who would later turn out to be a bird that you should never trust. At least only when it comes to love advice.

"Eh, Pedro. We gotta go. Kipo just texted me, he needs a wing with something." (Needs a hand with something. Keep up.)

"Fine. Tell him we'll be there." dismissed Pedro.

The two birds got up and went to the door, having not ordered anything. Nico gave a quick, friendly wave and a smile before disappearing through the door. But Pedro hung back a bit, and said "Ay, don't forget, Love Hawk!" before he, too, disappeared through the door.

It was just a little bit after Nico and Pedro left, that Linda returned with a coffee for herself, and a mug of hot chocolate for Blu.

"Ugh... That was a pain. I had to like, get this guy who spoke english especially, as the guy at the counter only spoke Portuguese. But in the end, I got what you were after." she said, a bright smile on her face, as usual.

"It's okay. I'll live." said Blu.

He decided not to tell her about Nico and Pedro, as what she didn't know, wouldn't hurt her.

* * *

**A little bit short, but ah well. I don't have as much motivation as I would have liked, otherwise I would write a longer chapter. But I promise that we will meet Jewel in the next chapter!**


End file.
